


Riding Lessons

by afteriwake



Series: All Of Time And Space [8]
Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-03
Updated: 2012-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-09 03:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/450552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It couldn’t be that hard to teach Sherlock to ride a bike…could it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riding Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> [goreplz](http://goreplz.livejournal.com)
> 
> gave me the prompt “Amy teaches a reluctant teenaged Sherlock how to ride a bike.” It's been so long since I rode a bike I almost forgot how to describe it, but I think I managed it well enough.

“Sherlock, can I go ride my bike?” Amelia asked as she came into her home. He had just become her babysitter a few weeks prior, and while she usually went into the living room to ask him she wanted to ride her brand new bike.

“Where to?”

“Just to the store and back. I want to get some chocolate chips so I can make cookies.”

“We can walk there,” he said, coming into the hallway.

“Aunt Sharon has a bike you can ride,” she said.

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what? Ride a girl’s bike?” she came into the house more.

He turned slightly red. “I can’t ride a bike at all.”

Her jaw dropped slightly. “Really?” He glared at her slightly and she closed her mouth. “Do you _want_ to know how to ride a bike?”

“It’s not important,” he said.

“But it’s fun,” Amelia replied. “Don’t you ever have fun?”

“I do,” Sherlock replied, crossing his arms. “I don’t need to learn.”

“But it would make it easier for you to get here instead of walking the whole way,” she said. “And it would be easier for you to get into town, and all sorts of stuff.” Then she grinned. “And I can teach you.”

He looked at her, then dropped his arms. “We’ll try for a bit. But if I make a fool of myself we stop and we walk to the store.”

“Okay,” she said. She went over and grabbed his hand, then pulled him along to the shed. She opened it and pulled out her bike, set it to the side, and then pulled out her aunt’s bike. “So, let me show you how to do it first.” She picked her bike up, put a foot on either side of it while she straddled the middle, lifted herself onto the seat and put one foot on the pedal on that side, then put the other foot on the pedal and pushed down and the bike took off, she rode in a circle around Sherlock, who turned to watch, and then did another circle and stopped in front of him.

“That doesn’t seem hard,” he murmured. He went over to Aunt Sharon’s bike, and repeated what Amelia did. But he didn’t push down on the pedal when he put his other foot on and the bike leaned to the side. He put his foot down on the ground quickly to stop his descent, then looked at Amelia.

“You have to push the pedal down when you put your foot on it,” she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She got off her bike and went to him. “Get it straight again and I’ll hold it up if I can. Then push and go.” He righted the bike, did everything again as Amelia held it up, and then pushed down on the pedal and moved forward. He pedaled the bike but instead of a circle he went in a wobbly straight line, straight into a tree. “Brakes!” she called out. “Push your feet backwards!”

He moved his feet backwards and the bike came to a sudden stop, and he fell forwards. He put a foot on the ground quickly to brace himself. “You should have told me that before I almost hit the tree,” he called back to her.

“Yeah, but you actually rode the bike,” she said cheerfully.

“I did, didn’t I?” he mused.

“You just have to work on keeping it straight and not so wobbly,” she said. “Why don’t you do straight lines in front of the swings?”

He nodded. They moved the bike that way, and she held it for him while he got settled. He pushed off and she let go, and he went straight. He did a better job braking this time, so she ran over to him and they turned the bike around. She held it again and then he started riding. They did this for the next twenty minutes, and by the end Amelia was barely holding onto the bike.

Then they practiced circles, which he had a harder time with. He kept leaning too much to the side and then having to take a foot off the pedals to balance himself. They spent nearly an hour doing that, but by the time they were done he was doing quite well. “I think I might have it,” he said.

“I think you do too,” she said with a grin. “Ready to go to the store?”

“I suppose so,” he replied. She grinned wider, then went to the shed and pulled out two helmets, handing him the larger one. He put it on as she put hers on, and they got on the bikes and pedaled out of the yard. She stayed at a slower pace than usual so he didn’t have to try so hard, and it was a nice ride to the store. Sherlock waited outside with the bikes while she went in and bought the chocolate chips and a nice little treat for him. Then she went back out and handed him the chocolate medal. “What’s that for?” he asked, looking at it.

“For doing a good job riding a bike,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you,’ he said with a grin, handing it back. “Keep it safe until we get back to your home.” Then they were off. The speed picked up a bit on the way back, and they got home much more quickly. They stowed the bikes and helmets in the shed and then went back inside. Amelia handed him the medal again and then took her chocolate chips into the kitchen to make cookies. 

A half hour later she came into the living room and saw him on the sofa, looking through his homework, the medal next to his papers. “Aren’t you going to eat it?” she asked.

“I think I’m going to keep it for a bit,” he said. “I don’t get medals often.”

“Oh,” she said, sitting next to him.

“Besides, you’re making cookies, and I’ll get chocolate then,” he said, turning to her with a slight smile. “Thank you for teaching me today. I think you’re right in that learning to ride a bike will make it easier for me to get around.”

“No problem,” she said, leaning her shoulder into her side slightly. “It’s not that often I get to teach you how to do something. Normally you teach me.”

“Maybe one day you can teach me to cook.”

She nodded. “Maybe one day.”

“Do you have homework?” he asked.

“Nope,” she replied. “I did it at school.”

“Well, let me go over mine and then we can have some of those cookies, agreed?”

“Okay,” she said. She gave him one last grin and went back into the kitchen to check the last batch of cookies. Now that he knew how to ride a bike, her afternoons might get a bit more fun, and she was glad for that.


End file.
